Here's the sequal to 'Dissolving' and it will be updated once a week, cus I still have a load of it to write. I only have3 chappies done. =^^=

Go read (and review!) Dissolving before this. It'll probably make more sense that way.

I must warn you all- these chapters will considerably SHORT. I figured I should break them more often, and expand the fic. Thanks for all the suggestions from 'Dissolving' reviews, you guys! I hope you like this fic too!! =D

Disclaimer: I don't own X Men Evolution in any way, shape, or form. Stan lee owns it, right? Bummer. I wanted it. 0.o

~*~*~

Vouch Me

Chapter 1: Over And Out

By: Scrawler

Chapter 1: Over And Out

~*~*~

Two loud screams erupted from two separate rooms in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. One was throaty and from a boy, followed quickly by some rushed self-calming, all said in German. The other, to whom none of the nightmare that had made her scream belong to, sat up, and bolted from her bed.

She was Jean Grey, and she whizzed down the halls in her short sleepwear to a room where she entered without knocking, and rushed to the occupant, breathing rapidly.

"Kurt? Kurt, are you ok?" she asked hurriedly.

Her friend, Kurt Wagner, eyes clenched shut, mouth dry, drown in a cold sweat, said nothing. He merely shook his head barely detectibly, and swallowed a few times.

"Kurt, it's ok. That's all over now." Jean tried to sooth. She saw her friend's furry blue tail coil, and uncoil in a fit of stress.

Jean asked automatically, "What's wrong?" instantly regretting it.

She knew what was wrong. She was afraid of it too, but she always tried to make it a point to listen.

"I've been nearly drowned in holy water," he began, voice shacking, "thrown away, chased away, shot at, beaten and burned... If I didn't live in the shadows....worse things would come. But I can't get /this/ out of my head." He looked up at Jean, sadly, "But I guess you already knew that."

Jean chewed her lip, of /course/ she already knew. Her dreams for the past few days had been his- so loud and...and she couldn't keep them away. As much as she tried, she couldn't block Kurt's nightmares from herself.

And of /course/ Kurt knew she knew. She had never looked him straight in the eye at any time after the first one. Then again, after the whole incident with Sanders, no one did.

Hoping it weren't so, but knowing it was, and still wishing it weren't, Kurt felt like he was the cause of every single bad thing happening now.

Rogue failing her math test- 'if I hadn't been so out of it, distracting everyone, she would have had more time to study.'

Evan getting angry at all of his friends, and breaking his skateboard in a fit of rage- 'if he wasn't so stressed about the Mutant Registration act, he wouldn't be so easily angered'

Scott being extra strict- 'I make him worry.'

The Professor now always working, never relaxing- 'I screwed everyone's normal lives.'

Storm, who flinched every time she saw Kurt, thinking about the cage- 'That's not even really my fault, but I'm still the cause.'

And everyone else.

Even to think he was becoming a burden, nothing in Kurt's mind would ever let him leave the Mansion. Never. He didn't want to be out in the open for it to happen again. He didn't want to be out anywhere- he rarely left his room at all. He wanted to have stayed in the Medical wing- because he thought nothing knew he was there. Unlike his room, where he had been tracked to by Stryker and his officers. That always brought Kurt into a cold sweat- what if they were out there now? Waiting, and plotting?

"no......" He whispered out, thinking about everything.

"Kurt, I want you to get some sleep, ok?" Jean said, taking him firmly by the shoulders.

"I...I /can't/" Kurt said, Jean shook him.

"You /can/. I'm going to hit you with a strong mental blast, ok? Your going to sleep, and you'll be nice and happy tomorrow, ok?" she said, smoothing his bed sheets unnecessarily.

"No, I can't. I /can't/"

It was late, Jean was tired, and much as it didn't feel right leaving him, she was ready to.

"Too bad."

She hit him with said mental blast, and he was asleep.

Jean left without another word.

~*~*~

"Yo, where's Kurt?" Evan asked the last person to enter the kitchen that morning, Jean, looking very tired.

Even though Kurt now never came down for breakfast with everyone else there, Evan always asked. Reckon he figured it'd all blow away magically one morning- as it should.

"I heard more screaming last night." Kitty said quietly, stirring her cheerios sadly. The whole thing was totally getting her down. Even her morning perkiness was at an ultimate low.

"Yeah. Kurt...had a rather colorful nightmare." Jean said, and added, "So I had it too."

"Your still getting his dreams?" Bobby asked, sitting down at the table with his ego waffles fresh from the toaster. Everyone knew of the 'incident' now. Most had seen the news, others had only heard of it. But either way, things were hard enough to keep secret around there- much worse when everyone's worried and a certain blue elf is never seen outside his room.

Jean nodded. "Nightmares." She corrected, and then shook her head sadly, tears already starting to blur her vision. "Horrible, horrible nightmares."

Scott put a hand on her shoulder for comfort, and lead her out of the room.

Everyone watched them leave.

"God, this isn't right." Rogue said, bringing her fist down on the table with a loud thump.

Kitty jumped as her cereal bowl shook at the sudden movement. "Like, what isn't?"

"Besides everything." Evan added.

"Kurt not getting up and going to school." Rogue snapped, "I know it's been tough, but he can't let it rule his life. It's not right!"

"Rogue!" Kitty shouted, standing from her seat, "You know very well that now the world knows who Kurt is! You can't expect him to /want/ to get up and go to school! Not with all this!"

Evan did a double take. 'wasn't Kitty always for the fuzzy one to go inducer free? Guess she changed her mind after.....yeah.'

Rogue stood face to face with her roommate. "The world knows about US too!" She spat, "and no. Kurt /wont/ want to go back. Ah'm just saying eventually, HE WILL HAVE TO! He will have to go back and face all that. If we let this hidin' in depression go on much longer- we wont have a chance getting him to live again! You see what I mean?! He'll be some living dead- best now to get him out of it then never!"

Kitty was stunned; she thought out of everyone, Rogue would want what's best for Kurt.

"An' I DO want what's best for Kurt." Rogue said, as if reading Kittys mind. "YOU just don't know what that is! We have to help him through this- not keep him locked up, or let him keep himself locked up! That's not solving anything!"

"But-"

"No buts, Kitty. Do you SEE any improvement?!" Rogue yelled- the room had become suspiciously quiet.

"No? You don't? Ah didn't think so! You know why- because there isn't any! His nightmares are getting worse- we can't leave him in his bed to dwell over them!"

Kitty remained speechless for a while, giving Rogue time to let out her fumes.

"I....I'm scared for him, ok?" Kitty said, stifling a sob, "He just looked so...in that cage....so..."

"So /what/, Kitty?" Rogue started up again, "So /what/!? Go ahead and say it! He looked pathetic! And dead, Kitty, we're letting him die here! He needs to get a life back. I may be bein' harsh, but it's the right thing to do. I know it is."

And Rogue stomped off out of the kitchen, leaving everyone in a heavy silence.

As it always was, it was Professor Xavier wheeling in who broke the silence.

"She's right, you know." He said, as if he had been there the entire time.

"Professor, I /know/ but...Kurt...." Kitty tried, and then fell hushed.

"Yes. Kurt's well being is most important in this. But we can't let him not live. I'm sorry to report, but no one is helping him. You can't start treating him different. He's very changed, yes, but still try and be normal with him. He needs that- a sense of normality. You all can bring it back to him if we all try."

And Xavier wheeled out, as silently as he came.

~*~*~

"Kurt?" Strom asked quietly as she, Xavier, Logan, Beast and Lewis all tip toed into his room.

"mhhh" was their only response. Kurt was sitting at the edge of his still unmade bed, starring at his feet.

"Kurt, dear, we came to talk to you." Storm tried again. Kurt turned his head towards them. Success!

Or.....not.

Kurt's face looked very gaunt. Even slightly more so then when he was first brought back. His golden eyes seemed lifeless all sullen in their sockets. His hair hung limp and his fur went every which way about his body. His face showed little emotion- just worry. A dread than made him look like a corpse. No, this was /not/ a face of some success.

Kurt was overwhelmed with a self-loathing that was deeper and stronger than anything he'd ever felt before. His experience and brought such a humiliation to his front, and now with time to actually think on it, the whole ordeal had worsened.

"Elf," Logan said, getting right to the point, "You need to go back to school."

A wave of utter fear fell over Kurt's entire body. His limbs tightened, and his face horror-stricken.

"Nein." He said, firmly. "I can't go."

"You can, Kurt." Beast said, "And you will. It's not healthy for you to live like this!"

Kurt snapped- "Oh, so living like an animal in a cage is much better?!"

"No, Kurt, but you can't let this rule your life!" Lewis tried to reason. Lewis himself looked indeed much better. He had eaten real food, and now gotten acquainted with sleep and regular showers. He, now after a quick rush, was starting again to take the form of his once fit and firm Irish looks. He was liking it, and it seemed Strom was as well. Her hand clutched his arm, somewhat startled by Kurt's behavior.

Kurt said nothing.

Lewis left Storms side, and walked over to Kurt- his aura heathing worry.

"Kurt," he said, as if it was everyone's only and all vocabulary, and sat down near him. Kurt jumped.

"Don't touch me." He said in a harsh whisper. Lewis shrugged back some, startled. Everyone knew Kurt's behavior would be very off, but no one had really taken the initiative to getting so near him to find out.

"See? We just want to help you, Kurt. You've got to be able to live through this. You've missed a lot of school already- how do you expect to ever get a job, or anything?"

Kurt looked sour. "You think I didn't already think of that? I can't ever get a job, not after that. I can't do /anything/ now."

"And waste your life?" Beast countered.

"It's been wasted." Kurt sighed simply. "It's over. I don't care anymore." And he turned away, slid off the bed, and his head hung so low his face muffled into his large sleep shirt.

"Elf, seriously. It's not going to kill you to go back to school."

Kurt's head shot into a turn at Logan, and gave him a dirty look. Logan instantly regretted his words in all their ironic state.

"Now that's not what I meant, and you know it." Logan growled, angered that his words had been defiled.

"Then what /do/ you mean?" Kurt snapped- though it still didn't sound as spiteful as he had wanted it. His voice seemed dead and mixed with all the negative and hopelessly spoken words he said, well, the combination didn't stir well with what seemed everyone.

Logan growled again, "I MEAN that you can't pull that over me, Elf. You know as well as we do that your not getting any better here. Go to school, and get on with your life, kid, you only got one."

"And I almost had none."

That brought a silence down on them all.

"Kurt," Xavier started out of the blue, "We have decided it's best for you to go back to school. Principle Kelly's actions have been dealt with, nothing of that sort will /ever/ happen again. I promise you, Kurt." Xavier's words sounded guinine to everyone's but Kurt's ears. He was not yet ready to ever trust a voice ever again, even if it were his own. "You'll return tomorrow."

"Professor, I can't. I can't go back. Not yet." Kurt pleaded, ringing his tail between his hands.

"When, then?" Xavier asked calmly.

Kurt gave no answer. In all truth, he was hoping the Professor would take 'Not now' and be done with it. That Kurt could keep putting it off till it never mattered anymore. Too bad, eh?

"Tomorrow, Kurt. That's when."

And the group left Kurt without another word.

~*~*~

A/N: woot! End of chapter one! Short, I know, most of the chapters will be. I'm just getting to the main points, here. Maybe things'll get longer later in the story- you'll have to see how School, The Mutant Registration Act, Sanders, and everything else fits in. one idea of mine, is to have Sanders visit Bayville high- 'o0o0o- great honor' only to thank the mutant who made it possible, Kurt Wagner. Hmmm.. maybe Kurt will go on a rampage, and get expelled. ^^ you'll all have to wait until I write it! But that doesn't mean I don't want suggestions- cus I DO! ^^

Review, please!!!

Scrawler